Henning Mankell

Henning Mankell (born 3 February 1948) is a Swedish crime writer, children's author and dramatist, best known for a series of mystery novels starring his most famous creation, Inspector Kurt Wallander.

Mankell was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1948. His parents divorced when he was one year old, and for a majority of his childhood lived with his father, Ivar, and an older sister. The three lived first in Sveg (Härjedalen), where his father was a district judge, and later, Borås (Västergötland). Mankell's grandfather, also named Henning Mankell (1868–1930), was a composer. At the age of 20 he had already started a career as author and assistant director at the Riksteater in Stockholm. In the following years he collaborated with several theatres in Sweden.

After living in Zambia and other African countries, Mankell was invited to become the artistic director of Teatro Avenida in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. He now spends at least half the year in Maputo working with the theatre and writing. Recently he built up his own publishing house (Leopard Förlag) in order to support young talents from Africa and Sweden...